LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Pot shop ban a bad idea for Stoughton

On Tuesday, April 4, Stoughton voters will have the choice to ban regulated marijuana dispensaries from our town. This ban is a bad idea, and I urge you to vote against this ban.

For decades, the government has forbidden the cultivation and sale of cannabis, based not on research but on racial hysteria. The War on Drugs was designed mostly to target Latinos and blacks, and it accomplished nothing.

Remember alcohol prohibition? Crime skyrocketed, and consumers funneled money to powerful gangs rather than government coffers.

Now a similar situation presents itself. Wouldn’t you rather buy from a Stoughton business, operating with strict guidelines, paying taxes to our town? Who wants to buy from a thug selling unreliable weed out of a dirty apartment?

New England is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid epidemic. Part of this is due to Big Pharma pushing addictive painkillers to unsuspecting patients. Part of it is also due to Afghans (their country produces 90 percent of the world’s heroin) who have no opportunity after the War on Terror ravaged their land, who grow poppy to support themselves now.

As Republicans slash treatment funding for opioid addiction, marijuana remains a far safer alternative to the drugs you can actually overdose on. Studies have shown that medical marijuana has reduced opioid overdoses, and it stands to reason that regulated access to marijuana will help combat this epidemic as well.

Many parents are concerned about how a dispensary might increase access for their children. As a former high school teacher, let me say this: it’s a lot easier for your children to get weed than alcohol. That’s the thing about taxation and regulation; it limits access. Your illegal drug dealer doesn’t card you when you want to buy pot.

Stoughton voted to legalize marijuana last November, and I think highly of us for making that choice. But there is work to be done to ensure that marijuana in our town is fairly regulated, and that the much-needed tax revenue pays for Stoughton services.

You probably haven’t even seen any marijuana in person since it became legal last December. But you will see the benefits that the tax revenue can provide to our town: traffic lights, paved roads, school funding, maybe a new ambulance. And hopefully a couple new police officers, who thankfully have better things to do than throw people in the joint for smoking some weed.

Jon Lott

(The writer is lifelong resident of Stoughton and a Town Meeting Rep. In 2016, he ran as an Independent for State Senate and finished with 26 percent of the vote. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @MrJonLott.)